the right to know who wrecks
the climate
german government sued for
non-transparency
friends of the earth
germany
©
manana
kochladze, nick cobbing, foe
ewni
Oil port near the
Baku platform where the Baku-Ceyhan
pipeline originates and Friends of the
Earth demonstration in the UK against the
Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, which is funded by
the German Export Credit Agency
Germany
claims to be a leader
in climate policy. Although this may be
true in terms of the energy measures being
taken on the national level, what about the
impact of German technology exports? After
all,
Germany
is
responsible for one third of global exports
in the mining sector, and has huge market
shares in power plants, cars, airplanes and
public transport systems. In this way,
German exports help to determine the extent
to which future global energy
infrastructure will be climate-friendly or
unfriendly.
Guarantees from export credit agencies
(ECAs) insure companies against economic
and political risks they may face
particularly in developing countries. The
German ECA, Hermes, provides billions of
dollars of funding for energy, mining and
transport projects around the world on
behalf of the German taxpayer. These
projects give rise to greenhouse gas
emissions that cause climate change.
A lack of transparency makes it
impossible to assess exactly what
contribution ECA-funded projects have made
to climate change. The World Resources
Institute (WRI) estimates that between 1996
and 2001, Hermes promoted fossil projects
in developing countries that totalled US$2
billion. For example, Hermes has supported
supplies for the construction of Paiton 2,
a disputed coal-fired power station in
Indonesia; more than 400 kilometers of
pipes for the controversial
Baku-Tiblisi-Ceyhan pipeline; and aircraft
for the airbus industry in the US, Sweden
and Saudi Arabia.
For many years, Friends of the Earth
Germany and Germanwatch have been
requesting information from the Ministry
for Economics and Labour about exports that
might be contributing to climate change.
Invoking the national Environmental
Information Act, the groups asked Hermes to
publish a detailed list containing all of
the projects in the field of energy
production for which export guarantees were
granted since the adoption of the Kyoto
Protocol in 1997.
The Ministry ultimately rejected the
request, claiming exemption from the
Environmental Information Act and that
publishing certain data would violate
business secrecy. In response, Friends of
the Earth and Germanwatch filed a lawsuit
in June 2004, accusing the Ministry of
violating the Environmental Information
Act. The outcome of this case could set an
interesting precedent for other
industrialized countries with ECAs involved
in the export of climate-damaging
technologies.
more information:
Climate Justice Programme:
www.climatelaw.org
Germanwatch:
www.germanwatch.org
ClimateLawsuit.org:
www.climatelawsuit.org
